Opposition calls Budget a “jugglery”

The Opposition and some parties supporting the government on Thursday slammed the general budget as "jugglery" of numbers and said it had forgotten the 'aam admi', who was already burdened by price rise, and had nothing to offer to the farmers.

Expressing disappointment with the budget proposals, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said "it is unimaginative, dull and boring". There is nothing for the women, youth and poor" in this budget and neither is anything there for boosting the agri-sector or for controlling prices," she said.

BJP leader and Rajya Sabha’s Leader of Opposition, Arun Jaitley said the budget is "verbose" and "extremely low on substance" and has a bit of "jugglery" to cut down on expenditure. “Having pushed the economy in a distress situation, he comes out with a budget of helplessness. In the first nine years, UPA government pushed the economy in distress and then a helpless Finance Minister comes out with a budget which has very little elbow space,” he said.

Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav termed the budget as "anti-poor" and "anti-farmer" and vowed to oppose it in Parliament. "This budget is only for 10 per cent population of the country. What kind of budget is this which ignores 65 per cent people who are engaged in farming," he said. On hike in MNREGA or mid-day meal schemes, Yadav said "it's a sheer wastage of money. This money could have been utilised in a more effective way for the uplift of poor."

BSP leader Mayawati, whose party has extended support to the UPA, criticised the budget saying it was drafted to "confuse" the common man and there was nothing new in it. "There is nothing new in this budget and there nothing for farmers, employees and the middle class," she said, adding that the policies of the Central government are not in the interest of the common man and are "anti-people".

BJD gives thumbs down.

Biju Janata Dal MP Kalikesh Singh Deo lamented that no growth-oriented reforms have been unveiled. "It's a thumbs down below average budget. "No growth orientation reforms have taken place. Specially supply side constraints in agriculture where large amount of investment is required to get farmers access to market."

CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said, "This is a lollypop election budget with minor additional investment and full of tokenism. Uproar is more but reality is different." Terming it as an "election oriented exercise", CPI National Secretary D Raja said, "It has also not addressed the key question of revenue generation. It appears to be a technical jugglery and we will have to see what comes out of it in real terms." He said there is also nothing on the huge non-performing assets of banks or on black-money and there is no taxation of the super-rich and only a surcharge has been introduced.

Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav said there is no relief to farmers, middle class and workers. "This budget has failed to address all the ills afflicting the country. No tax has been imposed on malls and hotels which consume diesel. Had this been done, famers would have got subsidy."

Criticising the budget, CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat said, "this budget is really promoting that particular factor of growth which has marked the UPA regimes, which is the growth determined by the interests of the corporates." "It is a pro-corporate budget. It is a budget which once again is finding ways to give tax exemptions and also this budget shows manipulation of figures by Chidambaram in his presentation. If you look at the Revised Estimates, you will find there has been a huge cut in the expenditure, compared to what previous budget estimates are," she said.

Inflationary: Swamy

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy termed the Union Budget as "insipid and counter productive". In a statement, Dr. Swamy claimed the continued financing of fiscal deficit by market and captive bank loans was "inflationary" and will land the economy in a debt-trap crisis. "The gross revenue estimate is based on an unrealistic GDP growth rate of 6.7 per cent in constant prices and 13 per cent in current prices. This is widely off the mark and hence the budget deficit will be higher and inflationary," he said.

A damp squib: Jayalalithaa

Describing the Union Budget as a “damp squib” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalaithaa said it was full of rhetoric and lacked any tangible steps to tackle the crisis confronting the country's economy. The exercise was only a "day dream cosmetic budget," of Finance Minister P Chidambaram, she said in a statement.

"The Union Budget presented in Parliament today has turned out to be an uninspiring damp squib, full of rhetoric, without any tangible steps to tackle the deep crisis confronting the Indian economy today... I would describe it only as a day dream cosmetic budget of P Chidambaram," she said.